ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team wraps up its brief post-holiday home stand tonight, when it takes on ECAC Hockey foe Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink. Faceoff is set for shortly after 7 p.m. The game will be streamed by subscription-based Ivy League Network with a free simulcast on ESPN3. Jason Weinstein will provide play-by-play with color commentary from Tony Eisenhut '88.

Game 15: QUINNIPIAC at #4/5 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 12-2, 6-1 ECAC Hockey;
                    Quinnipiac 8-10-2, 4-5-1 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: Ivy League Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Quinnipiac game notes (PDF)

Friday Night Redux:
•  Six different players scored goals, including a pair from Anthony Angello, and Cornell rolled to a resounding 7-1 win over Princeton on Friday night. Brenden Locke had three assists, and Mitch Vanderlaan and Jeff Malott each had a goal and an assist.
•  The offensive outburst marked the first time the Big Red scored seven in a game since a 7-1 win over Rensselaer on Feb. 16, 2008. Cornell also has 13 goals over a two-game span for the first time since Oct. 29-30, 2004, via 7-1 victories over Army and Sacred Heart.
•  The Tigers' lone goal came on a five-on-three to cut their deficit to 2-1, but the Big Red scored three goals in a span of 2:24 later in the second period to pull away.

Highlights of Friday's 7-1 Win Over Princeton:


Big Red Rewind:
•  Cornell returned from a four-week hiatus — consisting of the university's study break, the final exam period, and a one-week break for the holidays — with a 6-2 victory over Atlantic Hockey-leading Canisius last Saturday at Lynah Rink.  
•  Kyle Betts scored three goals against the Golden Griffins for the Big Red's second hat trick of the season, with linemates Jeff Malott and Alex Rauter picking up assists on all three of his tallies.

Big Red By The Numbers:
•  Cornell ranks second in the nation in team defense (1.79 goals against per game), having already posted three shutouts.
•  Long known as a defensive powerhouse under head coach Mike Schafer, Cornell is also showcasing its offensive wares this year. The Big Red now ranks fourth in the nation in team offense at 3.86 goals per game.
•  The Big Red surrenders the second-fewest shots on goal per game in the nation (23.07), trailing just Minnesota State (22.95).

Forward Thinking:
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (10-6–16; 4 PPG) leads the team in scoring and is the team's leader among forwards with a plus-12 rating. With a pair of goals last Saturday against Canisius, Yates ranks seventh in the country in goals per game (0.71).
•  Sophomore forward Jeff Malott (4-10–14) is second in team scoring and leads the team in assists. He has five games with multiple points, including one goal and four assists over the last two games.
•  Senior forward Alex Rauter (5-7–12) and freshman forward Morgan Barron (4-8–12) and are tied for third in team scoring. Rauter had three points in games Dec. 2 at Miami and last Saturday vs. Canisius, becoming the first member of the program to post three points in consecutive games since Blake Gallagher did so on games Nov. 14 and Nov. 20, 2009.

The Offensive Defense:
•  Cornell got a total of 13 goals from its defensemen in each of the last two seasons, but it already has 12 from its blueliners in just 14 games this year.
•  Junior Alec McCrea (4-2–6; 4 PPGs) is second in the national lead for power-play goals per game for defensemen (0.29). One of the team's top defensive blueliners, McCrea has already quadrupled his goal total from a season ago.
•  Junior Brendan Smith (3-5–8), who typically plays on the same pairing as McCrea, leads the team and ranks third nationally with a plus-17 rating. He's been on the ice for just three even-strength goals against this year.
•  In the 13 games in which its scored goals this season, defensemen have opened the scoring for the Big Red (five times) nearly as often as forwards (eight).

Goaltending, Inc.:
•  Despite entering the season with just eight career collegiate starts among its three goaltenders, the Big Red has not only found one solid starter in net this season — it has two.
•  Freshman Matthew Galajda (8-2, 2.10, .909, 2 SO) is tied for the national lead in victories by rookie goaltenders. He was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week on Nov. 14.
•  Galajda's two shutouts are tied for the second-most in program history for a freshman goaltender. Only All-American David McKee had more (five; 2003-04), and Galajda joins senior Hayden Stewart (2014-15) and Brian 
Hayward (1978-79) as the only others with two.
•  After making just one start over the last two seasons, senior Hayden Stewart (4-0, 1.01, .956, SO) has started the last three games and performed well. He made 26 saves Dec. 2 at Miami for his third career shutout in just his ninth collegiate start, then he won again Dec. 30 vs. Canisius and last night.
 
Fresh Faces:
•  The Big Red is the youngest team in ECAC Hockey and boasts one of the largest freshman classes in the country, with seven of the team's 10 newcomers appearing in the season opener — a first at Cornell since 1997. All eight freshman skaters have now debuted.
•  Forward Morgan Barron (4-8–12) is the first freshman in program history to record a point in each of his first seven collegiate games. He ranks ninth in the country in points per game for freshmen (0.86).
•  Defenseman Alex Green (1-5–6) had four points in games Nov. 21 vs. Niagara and Nov. 25 vs. Boston University. He was subsequently named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week.
•  Forward Kyle Betts (4-3–7) made the most of his four shots on goal over during consecutive games Dec. 2 and Dec. 30, scoring on each of them. His four goals over a two-game span were a first for the program since Greg Miller had two goals apiece Feb. 22-23, 2013 in games against Rensselaer and Union.

Polls Prose:
•  Cornell moved up to fourth in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll this week, while remaining fifth in the USCHO.com poll. It's the highest the Big Red has been in the polls since Nov. 5, 2012, when it was fourth in both.
•  The Big Red is also up to fourth in the Pairwise Rankings, which are used to determine the at-large berths for the NCAA tournament.

Turning The Trick:
•  Freshman forward Kyle Betts gave Cornell its second hat trick of the season last Saturday vs. Canisius. Sophomore forward Noah Bauld had the first Nov. 17 vs. St. Lawrence. Cornell also had a pair of hat tricks last season, and once again it was then-underclassmen that delivered — Mitch Vanderlaan (Nov. 12, 2016 at Yale) and Jeff Malott (Jan. 13, 2017).

Timely Performances:
•  Cornell has yet to play an overtime game, making it the first time since the 1992-93 season that the Big Red hasn't been tied at the end of regulation before New Year's Day.

Feel The Draft?:
•  Cornell has six players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including four from 2014. Junior forward Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 88th overall pick. 
•  Classmate Anthony Angello, also a forward, was selected in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Junior forwards Jared Fiegl (Arizona Coyotes) and Dwyer Tschantz (St. Louis Blues) were then picked in the seventh round. 
•  Two newcomers are also NHL draft picks — forward Morgan Barron (N.Y. Rangers in 2017) and defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers in 2016).

First Ivy League Coach To 400:
•  Already the winningest coach in program history and in Ivy League history, Mike Schafer eclipsed another milestone in his career with his 400th victory last January.
•  Schafer ranks 10th in victories among active Division I coaches and is Cornell's fifth-winningest coach across all sports — second among current coaches, behind just Dave Eldredge (men's and women's polo).

What, Me Worry?:
•  Cornell has trailed in five of its 14 games so far, and it's actually faced deficits of at least two goals on four of those occasions. The Big Red has rallied to win via three unanswered goals in three of those four games in which its trailed by two goals.
•  Cornell erased a 4-2 deficit Nov. 4 at Princeton to win 5-4, then shook off a 2-0 hole against Harvard to win 3-2 on Nov. 11, and most recently scored three goals in the final 15 minutes of a 5-4 win over Niagara on Nov. 21.
•  The Big Red's resilience from an early deficit has become somewhat of a trend, with the team sporting a very respectable 14-15-4 record when yielding the game's first strike over the last two-plus years. That's a stark turnaround from the team's 14-34-5 record when yielding the game's first goal from the previous three seasons (2012-15).

Scouting Quinnipiac:
•  The Bobcats (8-10-2, 4-5-1 ECAC Hockey) have rattled off a pair of victories this week in their first action since the midseason break. Quinnipiac blanked Connecticut, 3-0, on Tuesday night before returning to league play with a 4-3 overtime victory at Colgate.
•  Three second-period goals gave the Bobcats a two-goal lead last night, but the Raiders scored two extra-attacker goals in the final minute of the third period to force overtime. Quinnipiac wasted little time finishing off the game in the extra frame, with Bo Pieper netting with winner at the 22-second mark.
•  Freshman forward Odeen Tufto (4-16–20; plus-7) leads the team in scoring and is tied for third in the nation for points per game for newcomers. He typically plays on a line centered by senior Tanner MacMaster (8-8–16; plus-7).
•  Junior captain Chase Priskie (5-8–13) is the team's leading scorer among defensemen and also fronts the pack with three power-play goals.
•  Sophomore forward Alex Whelan (9-2–11) has taken over the team lead in goals and is far and away the team leader in shots on goal (95).
•  Sophomore Andrew Shortridge (7-8-2, 2.36, .906, 4 SO) has assumed the primary goaltending role after splitting early-season starts with freshman Keith Petruzzelli (1-2, 3.95, .860). Petruzzelli was a 2017 third-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings.
•  Quinnipiac's power play has struggled to a 12.0% success rate so far, but it has scored nine goals on the man advantage in its last seven games against Cornell.

The Series Against Quinnipiac:
•  Cornell leads the all-time series against Quinnipiac, 19-16-3, after 2-1 victories in each of the last two meetings. The most record came Nov. 3 at Quinnipiac, with Brendan Smith opening the scoring on the rush and Morgan Barron netting the eventual game-winner midway through the third period on the power play.
•  That victory gave the Big Red a season-series split with the Bobcats, after Quinnipiac secured a 3-1 victory on Nov. 18, 2016 at Lynah Rink. Anthony Angello scored the Big Red's goal in that game.
•  Cornell has lost each of the last five games against Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink, including two in overtime. The Big Red last had a home victory over the Bobcats on Nov. 19, 2011 (4-0; Andy Iles made 32 saves for the shutout).

Up Next:
•  Cornell will play five of its next six games on the road, all coming within ECAC Hockey. The road-heavy stretch starts next weekend with a trip to Yale on Friday, Jan. 12 and Brown on Saturday, Jan. 13.